General contractor DPR Construction is preparing to bring two local divisions under one roof and expand its office space with a move to downtown Orlando, and is seeking city approval to make a leisure addition to the building.

DPR is under contract to lease approximately 20,000 square feet on the ground floor of the Landmark Center One building at 315 E. Robinson St., owned and operated by Highwoods Realty.

Highwoods' two Landmark Center office buildings total more than 450,000 square feet of Class A office space directly north of Lake Eola. DPR will be joining a stable of development, design and real estate service providers in the buildings, which include AECOM, HDR, Greystar Orlando, HKS Architects, VHB, CH2Mand law firm Mateer Harbert.

DPR currently leases 8,400 square feet in the Millenia submarket at 4700 Millenia Lakes Blvd., an office building that's now 95 percent leased and represented by Jeff Sweeney of Cushman & Wakefield. Its corporate finance and accounting group leases separate office space in Maitland that will also be vacated, bringing the two units together in downtown.

"Our current space has served us well for a very long time but it's time for a change," Scott Lyons, DPR's Orlando business unit leader, told GrowthSpotter. "The ground floor space at Landmark offers a great connection to the outdoors and Lake Eola. Our folks are excited about the ability to get some exercise in a beautiful setting at any time of the day and we're excited about creating that opportunity.

"That, plus the adjacencies to many of our clients and A/E friends and the overall vibe of downtown match very well with our culture."

The space DPR will be leasing is currently occupied by IberiaBank's corporate office, a tenant that also holds naming rights on the building. Officials with Highwoods did not respond to requests for comment on Friday about if that sponsorship on the building's lake frontage has been claimed.

DPR is roughly doubling its current office space with the move, giving the company some slack to grow its staff over the next five years, Lyons said. Only about 40 percent of the GC's local team is working in the office at a given time.

Darryl Hoffman, Nick Poole and Joe Hills of JLL Orlando represented DPR in its search for new office space.

Little Diversified Architectural Consulting

A rendering of DPR Construction's proposed private pavilion area to be built between the Landmark Center One and Two office buildings on E. Robinson Street, in downtown Orlando.

A rendering of DPR Construction's proposed private pavilion area to be built between the Landmark Center One and Two office buildings on E. Robinson Street, in downtown Orlando.

(Little Diversified Architectural Consulting)

Prior to relocating, DPR filed preliminary design plans earlier this month with the city to add a new outdoor seating pavilion on the western side of the building, accessible from its future office and branded as DPR space.

"The outdoor space is a function of how we operate," Lyons said. "We feel it's a huge advantage to offer our people the ability to do the great work they do without a bunch of restrictions and rules. If we want to brainstorm, or celebrate a great win or (project) completion, we want the freedom to do that either inside or outside."

New York-based Plaza Construction is throwing its hat into the ring of local commercial real estate by opening a new Central Florida office, seeking high-profile Orlando work to help expand its profile in the state outside of Miami.

The company opened its new regional office in Tampa in late December,...

Notable projects that DPR's Orlando office has led the construction of include Darden Restaurant Group's corporate headquarters, CNL Tower II in downtown Orlando and its parking garage expansion, Disney Springs' parking garage, and in Lake Nona the first phase of Lake Nona Town Center, the U.S. Tennis Association's national campus, and the Ronald McDonald House at Nemours Children's Hospital.

DPR was also chosen last August to serve as GC on the KPMG corporate training center development in Lake Nona. It is leading the Margaritaville hotel project in Kissimmee, MD Anderson's Cancer Center in Jacksonville, and a 460,000-square-foot healthcare project in The Villages starting in May.